1 million protest in France

Political crisis deepens over youth labor law

April 05, 2006|By Colin Nickerson, The Boston Globe.

PARIS — Bitter opposition to a new law making it easier for French companies to fire young workers brought at least 1 million protesters into the streets of France on Tuesday, deepening an 8-week-old political crisis that could shatter Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's chances of winning the presidency next year.

Ignoring the anger spreading across the land, President Jacques Chirac--de Villepin's patron--signed the bill into law Sunday, apparently gambling that public outrage will diminish over time.

A nationwide strike shut down the Eiffel Tower, snarled air and rail traffic to Paris and caused tourists to flee as tear gas wafted through the City of Light. Police fought running battles with rock- and bottle-hurling anarchists who smashed windows, tore down street signs and ripped out park benches. Hundreds of arrests were reported.

Most demonstrators were peaceful, however, and their chants against the new economic policies reflected an angst felt widely across Europe as governments prune social programs and ease labor protection laws to meet the challenges of a global economy.

Yet the French upheaval is winning little sympathy across the continent, even though similar economic issues bedevil neighboring nations and even though the protesters present themselves as standard bearers in Europe's struggle against American-style "market reforms" that are resented by many workaday people from Barcelona to Berlin.

"We French people are bravely insisting on what every European should see as a right--employment security, social benefits, a decent life," said Jeanine-Marie Marsan, 22, a graduate student of literature.

"The politicians are trying to make our societies into little mirrors of the United States--where dollars count for everything and people count for nothing," she said as fellow protesters shouted slogans at police in riot gear near the Sorbonne, the elite university that has become one of several epicenters in a national revolt.